Building corner construction



" Jan. 5, 1954 J. P. KovAL BUILDING CORNER CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 12, 1949 Patented Jan. 5, 1954 BUILDING CORNER lCONSTRUCTION John P. Koval, Norwood, Mass., assigner to Bird & Son, inc., East Walpole, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 12, 1949, Serial No. 120,890

2 Claims.

This invention relates to building corner construction and more specifically to preformed corner elements which may be applied to the outside of a building usually in vertical series with overlapping horizontal joints, having improved characteristics from the standpoint of economy, appearance, and sealing of the corner against rain and snow.

The corner elements of this invention are especially adapted for use at external corner junctures of building walls provided with ornae mental siding panels of a type known to the art which are applied with overlapping horizontal joints exposing the lower edges of said panels, one' type thereof being formed with alternating areas of differently colored adhesively affixed mineral granules giving a visual appearance of the grain of wooden shingles. These corner ele: ments are preferably designed to carry out such wood imitation at the juncture of said walls which is not provided byrmany currently employed corner elements.

It has been customary in the past to use specially designed narrow metal corners either painted or mineral-surfaced to match the color of the siding panels, the use of which necessitated extremely accurate cutting of the edges of the siding panels in order that the required weathertight seal be produced at the juncture of said walls.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel corner element of pleasing appearance which may be easily applied and does not require accuracy in cutting the edges of the siding panels to produce a weathertight joint.

A further object of my invention is to provide a corner element especially adapted to be interfltted with courses of siding panels in such manner that the joints between the corner elements are reinforced to prevent breaking off of the overlapping portions, and so interitted as to preserve and carry out the horizontal alignment of said courses.

For the purposes of simplification and economy, the corner element of this invention may be formed with a base which is composed of libreboard and is so constructed that the element maintains its preformed angular configuration adapting it for application to the corner of a building, and yet possesses a certain amount of flexibility, due to the absence of any metallic reinforcement, permitting the unit to conform more readily with building irregularities usually found. The term fibre-board is understood to include various types of composition boards as commonly used in the art.

vedges of unequal length and two non-parallel edges of substantially equal length bent along a line between the median points of the parallel edges at approximately a right angle to form two sides l and 6. A groove or rabbet 8 is formed at the upper and lower parallel edges on the inside surfaces of the sides ll and 6, said rabbet being preferably of a depth somewhat greater than one-half the thickness of the nbre-board sheet, and a length, say, of from one-half inch to an inch. The outer edges It of the corner element 2 are at a slight angle to a line formed at the junction of the sides 4 and 6, as the upper edges I5 of the sides t and 5 are somewhat shorter than the lower edges I8 of said sides, for reasons hereinafter more fully explained. The corner element is impregnated or coated with a material such as asphalt or resin, which waterproofs and hardens the surface, and the exposed surfaces of said element 2 including outer edges I4 and lower edge I8 are covered with an adherent surfacing of nely-divided mineral matter which may be of various colors and configurations to provide the appearance of wood grain, or the like, similar to that of the siding panels.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, two or more corner elements 2 are used in vertical series with overlapping edges by intertting the rabbet 8 inside the lower edge I8 of one corner element with the upper edge it of another corner element, so that the upper element overlaps the lower element and forms a weathertight joint. In order that the vertical outer edges I4 of said corner elements may be substantially aligned to achieve a pleasing appearance, the lower edge IB of such corner elements must be longer than the upper edge I6 of said elements so that when said elements are interiitted the outer edges I 4 will substantially coincide. The difference in length between the upper edges I6 of sides 4 and 6 and the lower edges I8 of sides 4 and 6 is determined by the thickness of the completed elelower edges 2o, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the' rabbet 8 on the inner upper edge'- i5 of 'aj corner element 2 is intertted with the overlapping edge 2t of a siding panel v22 so that theloiie'r overlapping edges I3 of the corner elements' ?x intertted as hereinbefore described are aligned with the overlapping edges 2o of siding panels 22. When thus tted, the upper and lower edges of the corner element are reinforced againsty breaking and there is a minimum of free space between th'epart'sof the'oorner elements' andthe sidi'g panel atl the horizontal joints thus pre#V venting any danger of rain or snow entering the joint.

Since such corner elements 2 have sides of substantial width, sayll to 6 inches, it is unnecessary to! accurately align'the edges of the siding panels 22, as a small amount of horizontal overlap of the corner" elements 2` over the siding panels 22 will prevent rain or snow from entering ie joint.

Though the* corher elei'nents of iny invention have been described in terms of a corner element for use' with overlapping siding panels, corner eleiiients embodyingY my invention may obviously be'usedsat' greater or'less'er angles than 90, and as such would be useful in roof construction as well;

l-. A preformed building corner element coinprising. al sheet of nbre-board of substantially uniform tl'iickrie'ssY having sides and upper and lower'horizontal'parallel edges and two diverging sideedges'connecting the ends of said horizontal parallel edges, the lower horizontal parallel edge being longer than the upper horizontal parallel edge and the two diverging side edges being of substantially equal length, said sheet being bent at substantially right angles substantially along a line between the median points of said horizontal parallel edges, and a rabbet on the inside surfaces of said element adjacent each of said parallel edges, the inner' vertical Surfaces of the rabbets being substantially parallel with the inner vertical surfaces of its corresponding side, the lowerrnost.horizontal edge of the rabbet on each side ofthe median point being longer than the Y uppeiinost horizontal edge of the corresponding abbeton'each side of the median point by an amount substantially equal to the thickness'of vthe element at the bottom of the rabbet at the lower parallel edge.

2. In combination, a plurality of identical building corner elements as claimed in clairn 1 inl vertical relationship with overlapping edges, inwhich the upper parallel' edge'o one 'swid elern'ntsr is intertted with the' rabbet adjac nt the lower parallel edge of another'said elene'nt tounderlie said lower parallel edge and provide'V an overlapping water seal, the inner surfaces of said elements being uniformly slanted with the lower edge of said inner surfaces beingdisplaiellr outwardly from the upper edgeoi said inner Sui'- iaces to interiit with' overlapping' siding'f panels underlying said elements;

JoHN P'. RiovAL.

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Blank Mar.' s, 1938" 223mm Vane Fen. 11, '1941 2,231,171 Muench Juiy 2s, 1942 2,357,367 Walsh-; sept. 5,1944 

